Fascination
' |image= |series= |production= 40513-456 |producer(s)= |story= Ira Steven Behr and James Crocker |script= Philip LaZebnik |director=Avery Brooks |imdbref=tt0708539 |guests=Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi, Philip Anglim as Bareil and Rosalind Chao as Keiko |previous_production=Defiant |next_production=Past Tense Part 1 |episode=DS9 S03E10 |airdate= 28 November 1994 |previous_release=Defiant |next_release=Past Tense Part 1 |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2371) |previous_story=Defiant |next_story=Past Tense Part 1 }} Summary While making final preparations tor DS9 ‘s celebration of the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, Kira discovers that Vedek Bareil will soon arrive on the station. The same shuttle brings Keiko and Molly home to O’Brien after two months on Bajor. Lwaxana Troi arrives as well. Officially she has come as the Betazed representative to the Gratitude Festival, but she quickly informs Odo that her real purpose here is to comfort him over the distressing revelations that his race actually founded the Dominion. Soon odd fascinations grow among the crew. Jake decides he’s in love with Kira. Vedek Bareil can't keep his hands off Dax. Dax, in tum, plays the kitten with Sisko. For no apparent reason, Bashir and Kira fall madly in love with each other. Eventually Vedek Bareil becomes so distraught over Dax’s rejection that he hits Sisko. Furious, Dax steps in and knocks Vedek Bareil to the floor. Then Sisko sees Lwaxana wince in pain, alter which Quark suddenly becomes enamored with Keiko. An exam by Bashir reveals that Lwaxana has Zanthi tever—-a virus that affects the empathic abilities of older Betazoids. She has inadvertently been spreading her attraction for Odo all over the station. Once Bashir treats her condition, everyone returns to normal in a few days. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # The appropriateness of the station’s title comes into question again at the beginning of this episode. Jake says that Marta has gone to a science academy on Regulus Ill. You may not be aware of this, but Regulus is a real star, so this gives us some idea of the distance between Earth and DS9 . Regulus is only about 80 light-years from Earth. (The sources l checked said everything from 77 to 84, so we’ll take the mid dle ground.) If the station is 300 light- years from Regulus, the absolute maximum distance that Earth could be from DS9 is 380 light-years. (The three would have to be aligned: Earth, Regulus, and DS9.) Considering that the Federation is supposedly 10,000 light-years across, Deep Space 9 doesn’t seem to be very deep in space, does it? It’s probably on the edge of Federation space in that area, close to the Cardassian border. # At the beginning of this episode we learn that O’Brien hasn’t seen Keiko or Molly for two months. Why? According to The House of Quark, it only takes three hours to get to Bajor in a runabout. Didn’t O’Brien find one weekend in all that time to get away and beam down to the survey encampment? (Or better yet, beam Keiko up to the runabout!) His free time may not have coincided with Keiko’s! # lsn’t it amazing that only the main characters of the episode seemed to be affected by Lwaxana? Even more amazing, Sisko stands right next to Jake when Jake gets zoned, but the good commander never comes down with an attraction to anyone! (This poor guy needs to get out more. Are the creators telling us that there isn't anyone on the station whom Sisko finds remotely attractive?!) He could be naturally immune! # Wow! Good old Odo is really getting into this Bajoran Gratitude Festival thing. Normally very reserved, we see him at one point “directing” a group of Bajoran musicians—something that delights Lwaxana no end! He’s probably using this in order to increase his knowledge of the behaviour of other races, in order to enhance the skills needed for his job. Equipment Oddities # Sometimes the placement of equipment in the infirmary is just a mystery to me. As Bashir doctors Lwaxana, we see that her bed is shoved up against a wall that contains a series of elongated octagons. We've seen these octagons at work in at least two episodes: Q-Less and Invasive Procedures. Both times the octagons were actually the front end of a chamber. If the same holds true for the octagons we see in this episode, wouldn't it be really inconvenient to have a bed shoved up against them? They may be empty. Continuity And Production Problems # Just after O'Brien yanks Quark to his feet by his ears, the lower half of the Bajoran earring worn by the Ferengi barkeep comes loose and flops to his chest. Amazingly. No one seems to notice! . They’re all love-struck! Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, May 08, 1999 - 6:51 am: Why would Lwaxana be carrying "all that candy" and why would Keiko allow Molly to take it? I realize that Lwaxana might have met Keiko on the Enterprise, but wouldn't that be a good reason to stay as far away from her as possible? That could be regarded by Lwaxana as an insult. # What was Lwaxana doing on a shuttle from Bajor instead of taking a ship straight from wherever she was to DS9? Chris Thomas on Sunday, January 09, 2000 - 8:24 am: As Lwaxana was visiting as part of her Ambassador duties for the Gratitude Festival, perhaps she had other duties on Bajor first, where she was given all the candy as a gift to take home back to Betazed. When spying Molly on the runabout, she couldn't help but spoil her as is Lwaxana's way and given how pushy she can be, matched with a child offered a fountain of candy, it's no wonder Keiko couldn't stop her. # According to the 'official' maps of the Star Trek Universe (printed in the Special Collector's Edition Star Trek 30 Years), the dividing line between the Alpha Quadrant and the Beta Quadrant is drawn through our sun, or very near our sun, to the center of the galaxy. The series has many times stated that Bajor is in the Alpha Quadrant. Regulus, however, is in the Beta Quadrant and it is only 300 light years from Bajor. They could be on opposite sides of the dividing line # Quark is offering latinum-plated pens, but in Who Mourns For Morn latinum was revealed to be a liquid at room temperature. The latinum could be mixed with a binding agent. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine